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All Rise...

Editor's Note

Our review of Speed Of Life, published
March 12th, 2011, is also available.

The Charge

Don't let it pass you by.

Opening Statement

Or, on the other hand, do.

Facts of the Case

Drew (Scott Caan) lives a difficult life. He has to balance taking care of
his invalid father, attending college classes, and repairing motorcycles on the
side just to make ends meet. His father (Leo Burmeister), formerly a professor
of engineering, has been stricken with a degenerative nervous disorder that has
robbed him of most motor functions, causes him to have seizures, and impairs his
memory. Most of the time he has great difficulty even speaking to express the
simplest thought, and must depend on Drew to feed him, bathe him, and change his
diaper twice a day.

Drew has been in trouble of some kind earlier in his life, but tries now to
keep his nose clean. He faces difficulties in that respect, in the form of an
old friend (Anthony Ruivivar) who tempts him with the money that can be made
through criminal activities. Still, he soldiers on—until, of course, he
meets a girl. The sexy, dangerous Sarah (Mia Kirshner) draws Drew into a spiral
of drugs and sex that upends his world and changes everything.

The Evidence

Speed of Life starts out with a lot of promise. Drew's devotion to his
father is touching; their role reversal, with Drew taking care of his father in
every way, much as one would care for an infant, makes for some difficult,
rewarding moments. Leo Burmeister gives an amazing performance in their scenes
together, completely convincing as the helpless, frustrated, vulnerable older
man. Theses scenes, especially the ones early in the film, are encouraging, and
give the viewer hope that this will be…

Unfortunately, it doesn't last, and Burmeister's work is ultimately wasted,
forced to take a backseat to more conventional stuff. Ruivivar's character never
evolves beyond a cipher, just a placeholder for the Latino
homey/gangster-with-a-heart-of-gold role. Kirshner, despite her supposedly
co-starring role, has even less to do; she is called upon to look hot (which she
accomplishes in spades) and provide the enticement that leads to Drew's eventual
downfall. In the process, Sarah never develops beyond a bedevilingly pretty
face.

This brings the viewer to an ending that is wrong in countless ways. It is
as depressing as it is disappointing. It ends with a completely evil action by
Drew; the audience is apparently supposed to applaud this as his personal
declaration of independence. A movie that starts with such promise ends on such
a selfish, nihilistic note that one wonders what message writer/director Rob
Schmidt is trying to send. One may even wonder if he is consciously saying
anything with this picture, or if he realized the potential he had in his hands
to create a memorable, emotional film. Instead, we are left with a resolution
that aims for cheap shock and a kneejerk emotional response. It is a most vexing
conclusion; Schmidt wants to be daring, but manages only to be both trite and
offensive at the same time.

The acting is mostly of a conventional nature that is rarely more noteworthy
than the script. Ruivivar doesn't have enough screen time to do much besides
some standard-issue male bonding. Kirshner, for her part, is as sexy and
tempting as one could wish for, but not much else. Caan accomplishes some
moments of honesty in his scenes with Burmeister, but these are lost in a sea of
glowering and tough-guy schtick. No one is bad in their role, but no one come
near to the excellent performance offered by Burmeister.

At least the DVD looks nice. Not great, but nice. Colors appear as lifelike.
Shadow detail and gradations are excellent in a wide range of lighting setups.
On the downside, fine details are a bit hazy most of the time. Dimly lit or
night scenes tend to be too dark. The few brightly lit interior scenes in the
film happen in hospital corridors; these tend to be too bright and look a bit
washed out. Many of these problems look to be issues with cinematography rather
than the DVD transfer, however.

The audio on this disc is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. It is adequate, but
nothing special. You will be able to hear what you need to hear, but there won't
be much flash or excitement to it. The big problem with the audio is the false
advertising on the part of Lions Gate. On the back of the DVD keep case, the
packaging clearly lists "5.1 Dolby Digital" as one of the features of
this disc. But alas, a Dolby 5.1 audio track is nowhere to be found. I can only
assume that someone made a decision to change the audio late in the production
process, but forgot to inform the printing department; still, that's really no
excuse for shipping discs that carry blatantly false information on the
case.

There is almost no extra content on this disc. We get two trailers: Speed
of Life and The Dead Zone, the
new horror/sci-fi series starring Anthony Michael Hall. Trust me—The
Dead Zone would be the much better choice of the two.

Closing Statement

For me, what was probably the defining moment in Speed of Life came at
about the 45 minute point in its 95 minute running time. My wife, who does not
feel any pressure to be a pretentious film critic, but instead is free to be
honest and speak her mind, turned to me and asked, "So, what's the point of
all this?" I stammered for a minute, trying to explain what writer/director
Schmidt was trying to say, and then I realized that she was right. The movie had
no point; the emperor had no clothes. This is a film that wants to be about deep
personal struggles and emotional turmoil, but lacks the insight to communicate
its ideas successfully.

The Verdict

Guilty! Speed of Life offers a few promising ideas and situations, but
ultimately parlays them into an ultimately conventional and meaningless movie.
Lions Gate is guilty as well; false advertising does not sit well with this
court, whether accidental or not. They are advised to pay a little closer
attention to detail in the future.